State owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) on March 2, 2020 have reduced the price of petrol by 22-23 paise a litre and diesel price by 20-21 paise a litre respectively, making it the fifth consecutive price reduction for diesel since February 26, 2020 and third consecutive price cut for petrol since February 28, 2020.
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Petrol now costs ₹71.49 per litre in Delhi, ₹77.18 per litre in Mumbai, ₹74.16 a litre in Kolkata and ₹74.28 per litre in Chennai after the price cut.
Similarly, diesel costs ₹64.10 a litre in Delhi, ₹67.13 a litre in Mumbai, ₹66.43 a litre in Kolkata and ₹67.65 per litre in Chennai, according to data by Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL).
This cut comes after the price of petrol was reduced by 17 paise a litre and that of diesel by 21 paise a litre on Sunday.
The prices were reduced after the international crude oil prices witnessed a downward trend due to slump in demand. The crude oil price was hovering a little above $50 per barrel on Sunday after COVID-19 deaths and cases increased all over the world.
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Even as international crude oil prices marginally rose due to expected production cut, the fuel prices saw further decline across all major cities in India on Monday.
On Monday, the Brent crude was trading at $51.41 a barrel, up 91 cents, or 1.8%, after earlier dropping to $48.40, the lowest since July 2017.
The retail prices of fuel are dependent on the international crude prices and the Rupee-US dollar exchange rate as India imports almost 83% of its crude requirements.
Several key members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are mulling an additional production cut of 1 million barrels per day, more than the 600,000 bpd proposed last month, on growing fears that the virus outbreak will hit oil demand badly.
